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Watch: Nurses, turkey take care of rescued ducklings

Nurse Jean Lowe is used to saving lives, but saving unborn ducklings was a first for her.

Her efforts paid off Friday morning, when she watched nine fuzzy creatures begin to discover the world around them at Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn.

"I just wanted to take the best care of them that I could," said Lowe, a nurse at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin. "We save lives, and every life matters."

The eggs originally were in a nest outside the hospital's emergency room, whose nurses saw the mama duck get killed by a hawk about two weeks ago.

After the nurses brainstormed about what to do, Lowe ended up taking the 18 eggs home for the night. Google told her they like heat and humidity, so she put them by a space heater and carefully sprayed them with warm water, she said.

The next day, Lowe's sister Donna Kruse, also a nurse at the hospital, brought the eggs to Fox Valley Wildlife Center where she volunteers and where a wild turkey named Talulah became surrogate mom.

  Talulah the turkey keeps an eye on ducklings Friday at the Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com

Nine eggs hatched Thursday evening; three eggs were placed in an incubator while the rest were not viable.

Talulah, who suffered a wing injury about 1½ years ago, is among a dozen or so "education ambassadors," or permanent residents at the wildlife center, education director Donna Tate said.

It's not unusual for birds to foster eggs and other baby birds, but this came at a fortuitous time for Talulah, who had been laying unviable eggs for months and losing weight in the process, Tate said.

Talulah's maternal instincts kicked into gear as soon as the staff brought her the duck eggs, Tate said. "She turned them around like they're supposed to do and she sat down on them," she said. "She stayed there until they hatched."

The ducklings will stay at the wildlife center for another month or so, until they are able to survive on their own, Tate said.

Meanwhile the story, publicized by the hospital, has garnered widespread attention from local media, which Tate and Lowe said they hope will raise donations for the wildlife center.

  Jean Lowe, right, and her sister Donna Kruse, visit the ducklings they rescued as eggs after a hawk killed the ducks' mother. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com

"I think it's awesome that the wildlife center is getting all this attention," Lowe said. "They are funded by donations, so hopefully they are going to get more."

The wildlife center cares for about 3,000 injured animals every year, mostly in spring and summer. At the moment, that includes about 70 Eastern cottontail rabbits, 40 squirrels, three great horned owls, 30 geese, six possums and eight raccoons, Tate said.

"We need a new center in the worst way. Our facility is crumbling around us. It's a converted ranger house, and we would especially love to be able to move to a new facility."

For more information or to donate via a PayPal link, visit fvwc.org.

Images: Nurses, turkey take care of eggs as ducklings emerge

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